I know you are as excited as I am to find out that my blog is back.
I am in the process of creating a my own website www.erikpalmerthewriter.com It would have been erikpalmer.com but that is taken. There is an artist by the same name.
The site will be about me and my pursuit of becoming a paid writer. I have some things planned that I want to do. It will, in large part be about writing, both screenwriting and novel writing, but it will also include some popular culture stuff as it relates to writing, movies, plays, and TV.
The blog is a big part of the website. I will have samples and finished products of my stories available to read from poems, flash fiction, screenplays, and my finished short stories. I will also include notes and excerpts of my first novel that I am attempting to write.
I will have interviews with most of my characters. This should be fun to do and read but it is also a writing tool many screenwriters use. I hope this will help in finding out more about my characters, so I can make them jump off the page more.
More information to come.
Wednesday
Adaptation
ADAPTATION
If you have, or haven’t seen “Adaptation”, it is a Charlie Kaufman scribe where the central character is a screenwriter. Kaufman, brilliant as he is, doesn’t proscribe to the central theme of every blog I’ve ever written about structure – that there is a structure, an underlining thread to all movies/story telling. “Adaptation” is about a screenwriter… STOP! Don’t even try to explain Charlie Kaufman (I fucking love that guy. If anybody can tell me what “Synecdoche, New York“ is about, I‘d really like to know).
Back to what my original thought…
I am in the process of reading the book, “Story” written by Robert McKee. He, in the circles of screenwriting teachers, wrote the “bible” on screenwriting. He sells out every seminar he does across the country, charging hundreds of dollars to attend his workshops. Dozens of the most successful screenwriters (not Charlie Kaufman) took his course.
In “Adaptation”, the protagonist attends one of his workshops (a mockery of sorts). It is brilliant how Mr. Kaufman does what he does (like no other), but I must disagree with him in that, I must say, Robert McKee’s book has enlighten me. His book has given me a new meaning of life. I believe in his genius.
On page 152 (one of the dozens excerpts I would like to highlight) from the book "Story", he writes about “Writing from the Inside Out.”
… “Why during the creation of a scene must we find our way to the center of each character and experience it from his point of view? What do we gain when we do? What do we sacrifice if we don’t?
Like anthropologists, we could, for example, discover social and environmental truths through careful observations. Like note taking psychologists, we could find behavioral truths. We could, by working from the outside in, render a surface of character that’s genuine, even fascinating. But the one crucial dimension we would not create is emotional truth.
The only reliable source of emotional truth is yourself. If you stay outside your characters, you inevitably write emotional clichés. To create revealing human reactions, you must not only go inside your character, but get inside yourself.”
Robert McKee
"Story"
I have always stayed on the outside of my characters. I knew they had pain (see my previous blog, “Lonlines… ) but I saw them, and every scene like I was looking over them in a dollhouse, moving their pieces around like I was better than them, that I saw what was best for them, even protecting there best interests. To all my protagonists, I’m sorry. I didn’t see what you were going through. I thought I knew you, but I wasn’t listening to you. (I wanted to ask the young man why he was crying. See my previous blog entitled, “More Thoughts.)
If you ever come to Portland, Mr. McKee, I want to attend your workshop, but I don’t think I can attend. See, those writing contests have taken all of my money (read my “Writing Contest” blog).
To Richard… I see your pain. I promise I will get back to you. I have not given up. (See my blog, “To My Friend, Richard“)
If you have, or haven’t seen “Adaptation”, it is a Charlie Kaufman scribe where the central character is a screenwriter. Kaufman, brilliant as he is, doesn’t proscribe to the central theme of every blog I’ve ever written about structure – that there is a structure, an underlining thread to all movies/story telling. “Adaptation” is about a screenwriter… STOP! Don’t even try to explain Charlie Kaufman (I fucking love that guy. If anybody can tell me what “Synecdoche, New York“ is about, I‘d really like to know).
Back to what my original thought…
I am in the process of reading the book, “Story” written by Robert McKee. He, in the circles of screenwriting teachers, wrote the “bible” on screenwriting. He sells out every seminar he does across the country, charging hundreds of dollars to attend his workshops. Dozens of the most successful screenwriters (not Charlie Kaufman) took his course.
In “Adaptation”, the protagonist attends one of his workshops (a mockery of sorts). It is brilliant how Mr. Kaufman does what he does (like no other), but I must disagree with him in that, I must say, Robert McKee’s book has enlighten me. His book has given me a new meaning of life. I believe in his genius.
On page 152 (one of the dozens excerpts I would like to highlight) from the book "Story", he writes about “Writing from the Inside Out.”
… “Why during the creation of a scene must we find our way to the center of each character and experience it from his point of view? What do we gain when we do? What do we sacrifice if we don’t?
Like anthropologists, we could, for example, discover social and environmental truths through careful observations. Like note taking psychologists, we could find behavioral truths. We could, by working from the outside in, render a surface of character that’s genuine, even fascinating. But the one crucial dimension we would not create is emotional truth.
The only reliable source of emotional truth is yourself. If you stay outside your characters, you inevitably write emotional clichés. To create revealing human reactions, you must not only go inside your character, but get inside yourself.”
Robert McKee
"Story"
I have always stayed on the outside of my characters. I knew they had pain (see my previous blog, “Lonlines… ) but I saw them, and every scene like I was looking over them in a dollhouse, moving their pieces around like I was better than them, that I saw what was best for them, even protecting there best interests. To all my protagonists, I’m sorry. I didn’t see what you were going through. I thought I knew you, but I wasn’t listening to you. (I wanted to ask the young man why he was crying. See my previous blog entitled, “More Thoughts.)
If you ever come to Portland, Mr. McKee, I want to attend your workshop, but I don’t think I can attend. See, those writing contests have taken all of my money (read my “Writing Contest” blog).
To Richard… I see your pain. I promise I will get back to you. I have not given up. (See my blog, “To My Friend, Richard“)
More Thoughts (These are about writing)
Thought #1
I went home thinking about what I read about writing screenplays this morning and thinking about my next writing session, as well as my next possible blog. On my way to my place, I saw a young man sitting in the hallway crying. My first thought was that I wanted, more than anything else, to sit next to him and ask him questions. I really wanted to know his story. Why was he crying? Did he just loose a loved one, someone close to him, or did he loose his favorite pull over sweater from Abercrombie and Schmidt? I want to know everything about him. Since I started writing, I see things bigger than I ever thought.
Thought #2
I watched “Finding Forester” today. It, in a nutshell, is about a young man from Brooklyn who loves basketball but is a better writer, breaking away from the stereotypes and becoming friends with an old writer than won the Pulitzer prize on writing. He goes on to learn lessons… blah, blah, blah (I live in the blah)…
I also read an article on advice when entering screenplay contests (See my recent blog, “Writing Contests”) that mentioned how many screenplays the readers read had a protagonist that was a writer.
I started to think about movies about, or where the protagonist is a writer….
So far, I came up with these (no particular order):
“Finding Forester” (Duh)
“Final Draft”
“Sunset Boulevard”
“Adaptation”
I went home thinking about what I read about writing screenplays this morning and thinking about my next writing session, as well as my next possible blog. On my way to my place, I saw a young man sitting in the hallway crying. My first thought was that I wanted, more than anything else, to sit next to him and ask him questions. I really wanted to know his story. Why was he crying? Did he just loose a loved one, someone close to him, or did he loose his favorite pull over sweater from Abercrombie and Schmidt? I want to know everything about him. Since I started writing, I see things bigger than I ever thought.
Thought #2
I watched “Finding Forester” today. It, in a nutshell, is about a young man from Brooklyn who loves basketball but is a better writer, breaking away from the stereotypes and becoming friends with an old writer than won the Pulitzer prize on writing. He goes on to learn lessons… blah, blah, blah (I live in the blah)…
I also read an article on advice when entering screenplay contests (See my recent blog, “Writing Contests”) that mentioned how many screenplays the readers read had a protagonist that was a writer.
I started to think about movies about, or where the protagonist is a writer….
So far, I came up with these (no particular order):
“Finding Forester” (Duh)
“Final Draft”
“Sunset Boulevard”
“Adaptation”
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